


Pond Christmas

by brOken_records



Series: Old Friends [4]
Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Christmas, Episode Tag, F/M, Fluff, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-29
Updated: 2020-12-29
Packaged: 2021-03-10 22:07:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,240
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28404462
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/brOken_records/pseuds/brOken_records
Summary: The Pond's receive a guest on Christmas day.
Relationships: Amy Pond/Rory Williams, Eleventh Doctor & Amy Pond & Rory Williams
Series: Old Friends [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1673599
Comments: 4
Kudos: 20





	Pond Christmas

**Author's Note:**

> Hi guys! So I've been working on my Rory fic, but I couldn't resist posting a small Christmas fic. Even though it is slightly belated. 
> 
> It is in the same universe as FTTMR. I hope you enjoy. 
> 
> Stay safe everyone!

**_Leadworth, December 2015_ **

There was a knock at the door while Rory was preparing the turkey.

Amy groaned and had a very longsuffering look on her face, before marching towards the door.

“If that is more carol singers- I _have_ a water pistol. You don’t want to be all wet on a night like this.”

Rory tried to rein in his smirk. Those poor carol singers. He pulled the veggies out of the oven and checked the meat. It only had a few minutes to go.

It was just the two of them for Christmas dinner. Amy’s parents had decided to spend Christmas overseas this year, and his dad was not well. It wasn’t serious, but it was nasty; and Brian didn’t want to get Rory or Amy sick. Rory understood, so he had dropped some chicken soup and his Christmas present round at Brian’s house that morning. Brian had complained that he didn’t need presents. Rory had cheerfully ignored him. River had let them know that she was unable to come on Christmas day, but would make an effort to be with them on Boxing Day.

“Mr Pond! Guess who’s coming for dinner!”

Rory washed his hands quickly, then headed out of the kitchen. Maybe his dad had come after all?

When he saw the Doctor in the doorway, he could feel his mouth curl into a smile. It had been two years since he had seen the Doctor. Either of them. Seeing the bowtie Doctor safe and whole, despite knowing that he had never been in danger of dying, lessened the lump in his throat.

“Whoa,” he said. Because he couldn’t think of anything else. “Not dead then.”

He wrapped his cardigan more closely around his body. As he did so, he wondered, not for the fist time, if the Doctor ever got cold.

“We done that.”

“Oh, okay,” Rory looked closely at his wife. Rory recognised that look. 

“We’re about to have Christmas dinner. Joining us?”

She waved her hands expansively.

“If it’s no trouble?”

The Doctor was trying to come off as casual, but Rory could hear the way his voice went higher at the end. He was nervous and trying vainly to hide it. Rory felt for him, even as he thought about how he would have reacted if he hadn’t known.

“There’s a place set for you,” said Rory slowly. Trying to make sure that the Doctor heard everything he couldn’t say out loud.

“But you didn’t know I was coming. Why would you set me a place?”

How did a grown man look so _bloody vulnerable_?

Rory opened his mouth to set him straight when Amy interrupted.

“Oh, because we always do.” Rory pointed at his wife. “It’s Christmas you moron.”

Amy fired some water in the Doctor’s face. He looked confused. The Doctor should know this. Why didn’t he? Rory remembered the blonde Doctor’s face when he talked about how he cared for her, and his heart ached.

“Come on,” said Rory.

Amy walked back inside Rory almost followed her when something made him look back.

The Doctor was crying.

Rory went back to him, then reached out and squeezed his shoulder.

“Hey, everything ok?”

The Doctor seemed to struggle with something.

“Yes, Rory,” he said.

Rory could tell he was trying for vaguely annoyed, but missed the mark so completely that Rory rolled his eyes in response.

“Right, well are you coming? Dinner’s only a few minutes away.”

He moved his hand to the Doctor’s arm and gently steered him inside. As they passed through the hallway, Rory could see him looking at the pictures on the walls. Rory frantically tried to remember if this Doctor had ever been inside their home. He was coming up with a blank.

There were several pictures of Amy, Rory and Mels at high school. Rory could see the Doctor suppressing a laugh at Mel pulling a face at the camera. There were plenty of others, but the only other one the Doctor was drawn to, was a picture of Amy, Rory, River and the Doctor at the beach, Rory remembered the day well.

It had been a rare moment between the four of them. There had been no alien invasion, no plots to assassinate. It had just been them on a beach for the day. It was the first time he had ever seen Bowtie in something other than his suit.

Amy and Rory did have more pictures of the Doctor, but most of them were subtle photos that could not be shown to anyone. The Doctor stopped in front of the photo.

“Doctor?”

He glanced at Rory then looked back at the photo.

“It’s nothing. I just haven’t seen you guys in a while.”

Rory chose not to comment on that. But he wondered how long it had been for the Doctor.

“When did River tell you?” The Doctor asked.

Rory raised an eyebrow, then shifted a bit.

“Tell me what?”

The Doctor stared at him closely.

“That I was alive.”

_Oh._

Rory scrambled for an answer that wouldn’t sound like a lie. Sure, River had told them the Doctor had survived. But Amy and Rory had known he was alive before that…

“She found herself in our backyard after the Byzantium, I think. It must have been a few months after, well after our minds were rewritten.”

He was still confused about that, but all he knew was that he had two memories of the Doctor’s ‘death’. In one River had shot the Doctor dead, in another Rory had been placed in another pocket universe, only this time he had not remembered anything. Not even Amy. 

“Oi! Get in here you two- dinners ready!”

The two of them eyed each other for a moment.

“Well, I’m glad you’re not dead,” said Rory, also going for offhand. Judging by the Doctor’s behaviour, he would not appreciate anything else.

Rory steered the Doctor into the room, just as Amy came out of the kitchen with the turkey. The Doctor took his seat and seemed to wait for a cue from Amy and Rory.

Amy sat herself down, then gestured at the Doctor.

“You can make a start Doctor.”

They all tucked in. Rory and Amy had worked together on dinner, had decided that they would make their own Christmas traditions- which wound up being a merge of their childhood traditions.

Rory glanced at the Doctor several times during dinner.

He always had a look on his face that Rory couldn’t quite place. It could have been nostalgic, content, lonely or none of those. But it was enough to make Rory wonder when the Doctor had last been invited to a Christmas dinner.

He thought it must have been some time, and he endeavoured to invite the Doctor next year as well.

“I’d like to make a toast” said Rory. “To family.”

As he spoke, he looked directly at the Doctor. Was it cheesy? Yes of course it was. But it was worth it to see the answering smile on the Doctor’s face. Rory sipped his drink and the others quickly followed suit.

Warmth spread through his chest as he stared at his wife and son-in-law turned best friend. He only regretted that River could not join them that night. But he resolved that she would be there tomorrow, perhaps the Doctor would still be around. He hoped so, it sure would make his Christmas.


End file.
